Jessie Diggins' parents can only cheer, agonize from opposite side of world

The thrill of the races, the boredom of the mountain bus rides, even the confusion of navigating airports — sure, Deb Diggins wishes she was experiencing the Beijing Olympics like she did the Games in Sochi and PyeongChang.

But it didn't really hit home until the medal ceremony.

"I flashed back to four years ago — standing in front of the stage and seeing your daughter wearing a gold medal around her neck," said Jessie Diggins' mother, relegated like all foreign spectators to watching the 2022 Olympics on television because of COVID-19 precautions.

On Tuesday, Jessie followed up that 2018 team medal by becoming the first American woman to win an individual medal in cross-country skiing, taking bronze in the freestyle sprint event.

"It was hard to watch that on TV," Deb Diggins said, "because those ceremonies, they're such special moments."

But Diggins and her husband, Clay, who live in Afton on the far east side of the Twin Cities metro, are resigned to monitoring Jessie's achievements from more than 6,000 miles away, instead of the bleachers next to the finish line.

While their oldest daughter focuses on earning medals for Team USA in China, Deb and Clay Diggins are staying busy by coaching cross-country skiers at Red Wing High School. The school doesn't sponsor a ski team, but the Digginses work with a club team of Red Wing students, and their biggest meet of the year is this weekend, too.

And it's a lot closer than Beijing.

"We're allowed to participate in the Wisconsin state school meet in the guest category, so we've been getting ready" for this weekend's state meet in Hayward, Wis., Deb Diggins said. "It's really exciting for the team, they've been working all season toward this. So we're watching a lot of ski racing right now."

It's practically a 24-hour commitment, considering the time difference between Minnesota and China. Jessie is entered in six events, scattered throughout the two weeks of Olympic Games — each one of them beginning between 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Central time.

"NBC called us to ask if we were planning any watch parties they could come to," Diggins said. "I personally wouldn't be excited about going to someone's house at 1 a.m., so I don't blame our friends. They were like, 'We love you and Jessie, but … ' I understand. We go to bed early, set our alarm, watch the race, and go back to bed."

The Diggins watched two of Jessie's middle-of-the-night races at home, joined by their younger daughter Mackenzie and Deb's mother, Betty Santa. But for the individual sprint, Jessie's best chance at a medal, they accepted the invitation from some friends in nearby Lake Elmo to come watch on a big-screen TV.

"The heats were at 4:30 a.m., so that felt a little more reasonable," Diggins said. "That was really fun, to have someone to share that moment with. We were jumping up and down" as Jessie captured the bronze.

Well, once they figured out what had happened.

"Coming into the home stretch, Jessie is boxed in and we couldn't see how she could get out. But [Swedish gold medalist] Jonna Sundling crosses the finish line, and the cameras are showing her instead," Deb Diggins said. "We're all jumping around and yelling, because they're not showing what's going on behind her. Whoever made that camera decision, they left us saying, 'What's going on? Show us!' "

Finally, replays revealed that another Swede, Maja Dahlqvist, had edged out Diggins for the silver medal by about a foot. But earning a medal softened any disappointment about not seeing the finish live.

Diggins has three more races remaining. Her family will watch the team relay race early Saturday morning from Wisconsin, and will be home in the wee hours on Wednesday for the team sprint, Diggins' gold-medal event in 2018. Then the parents will fly to Park City, Utah, to watch the final four days of the Olympics — including the 30-kilometer finale early the morning of Feb. 20 — at an event for families sponsored by NBC.

"We're really looking forward to that, spending time with Olympic families. The atmosphere should be really festive," Deb Diggins said. "Appearing on camera isn't really our thing though. We might hide behind a couch."